The present invention pertains to processes and apparatus for folding garments, and more particularly to processes and apparatus for improving chassis and side panel control during folding.
Garments such as disposable absorbent garments have numerous applications including diapers, training pants, feminine care products, and adult incontinence products. The typical disposable absorbent garment is formed as a composite structure including an absorbent assembly disposed between a liquid permeable bodyside liner and a liquid impermeable outer cover. These components can be combined with other materials and features such as elastic materials and containment structures to form a product that is specifically suited to its intended purposes.
One form of disposable absorbent garment is a two-dimensional product that has open sides. Two-dimensional products, such as conventional diapers and some adult incontinence products, are generally flat and provided in an unfastened configuration. These garments have typically included fasteners such as adhesive tape fasteners or hook and loop type fasteners that releasably connect the front and back waist portions to secure the products about the wearer. Two-dimensional products can be easily applied or removed while the wearer is lying down.
Another form of disposable absorbent garment is a three-dimensional product with closed sides so that (using a pant as an example) the product has a unitary waist opening and two leg openings. The wearer raises and lowers the garment to apply the product. Three-dimensional products are particularly appealing because the pant has a very garment-like look. Children, for instance, identify diaper products with babies, and most children do not like being identified with or as babies. Consequently, these children do not want to wear baby diapers, and may instead prefer to wear training pants that look like adult underwear. Thus, the switch from a traditional diaper to a more garment-like or underwear-like training pant can be an important step in the toilet training process. Similarly, adults seeking the protection of incontinence products prefer the normalcy of a pant product rather than an incontinence product that must be applied in another fashion. Three-dimensional garments generally have been designed such that they can be torn to remove the garment from the wearer after it has been soiled. In addition, some three-dimensional garments have been designed with refastenable fasteners.
Disposable absorbent products present many manufacturing challenges. In part, this is due to the high speed that is necessary to economically produce relatively low cost disposable absorbent products. Furthermore, such products must be folded in a manner that allows the front and back of the garment to be properly aligned and joined. An even more precise folding may be required if the garment has fasteners on front and back regions that must be aligned and joined properly in order for the garment to function as desired. By providing a refastenable feature, the product delivers the advantage of being both a pant and easy to change when soiled. The folding of training pants has been previously described in International Publication No. WO 01/87210 published 22 Nov. 2001 by Joseph D. Coenen et al., which is incorporated herein by reference. As described therein, unfolded training pants are guided by a product control drum onto a transfer plate. A pair of tucker blades then contact the crotch region of the training pant, inserting the training pant into a folding nip formed between nose rolls of an upper folding conveyor and a lower folding conveyor in order to effectuate the folding of training pants.
However, folding such training pants can present new challenges for high speed manufacturing. For example, the center chassis portion of such products may sometimes interfere with the nose rolls and transfer plate. This interference may cause alignment problems for the chassis. As another example, when the pant is drawn into the folding nip, the leading edge of the chassis may sometimes become misaligned. Finally, as another example, when the pant is drawn into the folding nip, the side panels of the leading edge of the pant may get out of control and become skewed. This (possibility of skewing) is especially due to the flexibility of the material. There may be a larger probability of skewing when lower basis weight materials are used, and/or at higher machine speeds. The flexibility of the material, while it may cause processing issues, is nevertheless needed to provide maximum conformability of the garment to the body.
Thus, what is lacking and needed in the art are improved processes and apparatus for folding garments to address the above identified problems, which processes and apparatus are suitable for use with discrete articles including mechanical fastening components and suitable for the manufacture of prefastened and refastenable pants.